1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an ink-jet recording apparatus for performing a recording operation by jetting ink stored in an ink tank as a recording fluid, from an ink exhausting outlet of an ink-jet recording head as droplets of the ink and then by attaching the ink droplets onto a medium to be recorded. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an ink-jet recording apparatus equipped with a head cartridge having a head supporting member on which an ink joint connectable to the ink tank is mounted, and an ink-jet recording head supported by this head supporting member, and also a head carriage on which this head cartridge is detachably mounted and which is reciprocated along a main scanning direction.
2. Description of Prior Art
An ink-jet recording apparatus owns specific features such as a high-speed printing operation and a low noise operation, and therefore have been widely utilized in the recent recording apparatus of the information processing apparatus.
In such an ink-jet recording apparatus, the ink-jet recording head must be replaced by a new ink-jet recording head due to malfunction or a lifetime of this ink-jet recording head, and also ink is refilled with the ink-jet recording head because of ink depletion. Conventionally, for the sake of easy replacement of the ink-jet recording head, the replacing head cartridge has been utilized which is arranged by the ink-jet recording head and the head supporting member for supporting this head.
To replace the above-described head cartridge, a correct positioning operation is required for the replaced new ink-jet recording head. Also, it is desired to refill ink into the ink tank without causing dirt of a finger of an operator when the depletion of ink is solved.
There are two solutions as the method for refilling ink into the ink tank in order that a finger of an operation is not darted by ink:
a). A method capable of detachably mounting a cartridge type ink tank on a head cartridge.
b). A method wherein an ink tank arranged at a proper position of an ink-jet recording apparatus is connected with a carriage-side ink connection member mounted on the carriage by an ink flow path, and when the head cartridge is mounted on the head carriage, the head cartridge-side ink connection portion is automatically connected to the carriage-side ink connection portion.
When these methods (a) and (b) are employed, it is preferable to easily replace the head cartridge within a short time. When the method (a) is employed, it is preferable to easily replace the ink tank within a short time.
The above-described conventional method capable of replacing the ink-jet recording head is described in, for instance, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) Sho-60-157865/(1975). However, since the ink-jet recording head of this prior art is fixed by employing the rubber member, there is a problem in positioning precision of the ink-jet recording head.
Further, in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) Hei-2-198862/(1990), such a conventional technique has been opened that with respect to the head carriage reciprocated along the main scanning direction (main-scanning carrier), the ink-jet recording head and the ink tank are assembled in an integral form, which is then fixed by the fixing lever. In accordance with this second prior art, even when only the ink tank must be replaced, the integrated body of the ink-jet recording head and the ink tank must be removed, or separated from the head carriage. As a result, when only the ink tank is replaced, such a waste workload is required that the ink-jet recording head is removed from the head carriage and again mounted thereon.
It should be noted in this Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication Hei-2-198862 that the following descriptions are made, that is, "since no ink is leaked from any one of the recording head portion 2 and the ink tank 3 during the replacement, the ink tank can be replaced on the carriage", and "it is of course possible to replace the ink tank on the carriage in accordance with any preferred embodiments". However, there is no such a description about the method for fixing the recording head portion 2 with respect to the head carriage. Accordingly, there is no description that only ink tank can be readily replaced within a short time, while the recording head portion 2 remains fixed on the head cartridge.
If the above-described method (b) is employed, then there are the following problems:
That is, to prevent ink caked in the ink exhausting outlets of the ink-jet recording head in the ink-jet recording apparatus, the capping unit for sealing the ink exhausting outlets is employed. When the head carriage is stopped at the home position, this capping unit depresses the sealing cap against the peripheral portion of the ink exhausting outlets, namely the tip portion of the head cartridge. In this case, if the position of the head cartridge is not firmly fixed on the head cartridge, the head cartridge is moved on the head cartridge. Such a cartridge movement may cause that the head cartridge-side ink connection portion is mutually moved with respect to the carriage-side ink connection portion. Such a mutual movement between the head cartridge-side ink connection portion and the carriage-side ink connection portion may cause ink leakage at these ink connection portions.
If the head carriage is vibrated, there is a risk that a relative small movement happens to occur between the head cartridge-side ink connection portion and the carriage-side ink connection portion. As a consequence, the ink connection portions must be constructed in order not to cause such an ink leakage even when the above-described relative small movement happens to occur.